South Platte Sentinel Wednesday, Feb. 25, 2009 Page 14E d u c a t i o nE d u c a t i o n

Bare To The Bone

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Hypnosis may be viable alternative to anesthesiaAnesthesiology is a great profes-

sion. If surgery is required, whereelse can you get the appropriatedrug that allows your surgeon toimprove your overall health whileyou sleep blissfully during surgery?Not only do you get to avoid the painof being cut upon, you are comfortedand serene in the knowledge thatthe post-surgical care you’ll receivewill minimize any discomfort and dealwith any complications. The cherryatop this surgical sundae is the extrasleep you’ll be afforded.

It hasn’t always been this easyfor patients. In fact, having surgerywithout an anesthetic was the rulerather than the exception up untilapproximately 1850. As you mayhave seen in movies, alcohol andlaudanum (tincture of opium) wereused as anesthetics. Often, how-ever, their use created a new set ofproblems beyond pain management.Patients were often difficult to man-age and some surgeries were leftunfinished.

Having surgery without an anes-thetic (none were available), or withthe administration of available drugsmust have been a memorable expe-rience.

In a time when patients wereroutinely strapped to operating tablesand asked to “bite the bullet,” RobertListon is reported to have admon-ished a patient to have more “disci-pline” during a surgery, and actuallythreatened to stop the procedure ifthe patient did not cooperate.

Liston, the best surgeon of histime, had developed techniques de-signed to minimize pain by reducingthe time required for a procedure tobe completed. Nonetheless, theprospect of enduring surgery with-out anesthetic, not to mention the40% mortality rate associated withsuch surgeries, did not attract theweak of heart. Appropr iate ly,Oliver Wendell Holmes noted thatnature offers only three natural an-esthetics: sleep, fainting, and death,all of which may have been prefer-able to undergoing surgery withoutanesthetic.

Against this backdrop of surgicalpain and suffering, reports began tosurface indicating that a significantnumber of surgeries were being per-formed, PAINLESSLY!

John Elliotson, professor of medi-cine at University College in Londonand his colleague James Esdaile,both offered empirical evidence of a

significant number of PAINLESSsurgical procedures! The commonthread in all of the painless surgerieswas a mesmeric trance into whichthe patients were placed prior tosurgery. You guessed it, they werehypnotized.

“Animal magnetism” or “mesmer-ism,” was the moniker given to hyp-nosis during a time when medicaland dental surgery was performedwithout anesthetic. Regardless ofwhat it was called, the surgeriesperformed by Elliotson and Esdaileproduced an even more startling sta-tistic.

The mortality rate in their surger-ies was reduced to about 5%. Bothsurgeons attributed the dramaticdecline in surgical-related deaths totheir ability to manage the pain intheir patients by first placing them ina hypnotic trance.

Hypnosis appeared to be the nextsignificant medical breakthrough, butthe advent of ether, nitrous oxide,chloroform and other pharmaceuti-cals provided alternative options forpain management. Advances in an-tiseptic practices, local and regionalanesthesia, and the development ofnontoxic forms of cocaine and mor-phine made use of these optionssafe for patients, and appeared toput hypnosis at the end of the linewith respect to patient options foranesthesia.

A resurgence for hypnosis oc-curred in World War II. In those in-stances where chemical anesthet-ics and analgesics used for painmanagement and reduction wereunavailable, there were instanceswhere hypnosis benefited patients.Projections, however, indicated thatfewer than 10% of random patientswould be able to tolerate invasiveprocedures through the introductionof hypnosis.

What is hypnosis and why wouldit confer any benefits on a patient?

Essentially hypnosis allows oneto gain more control over their be-havior, emotions, or physical well-being. Under hypnosis, there is usu-ally a more intense focus, a deeperrelaxation, and a greater opennessto suggestion. Though unclear ex-actly how hypnosis works, whenhypnotized, it’s possible to concen-trate intensely on a specific thought,memory, feeling or sensation whileblocking out distractions. That focusallows one to be more open to sug-gestions which can be used to alter

behavioral patterns.Hypnosis and hypnotherapy are

already used to assist in the cessa-tion of smoking, weight loss, andbed-wetting. It is being used to re-duce pain and recovery time relatedto surgery, and a pulse device is nowbeing marketed that is designed touse a form of this therapy to lowerblood pressure.

The National Institutes of Healthhas given its endorsement to hypno-sis for the treatment of chronic pain.There are those who use the tech-nique to mitigate the effects of ev-erything from irritable bowel syn-drome to migraines and headaches.It’s been used to treat chronic painand those methods have been ap-proved by the National Institutes ofHealth.

Numerous myths surround theuse of hypnosis. For example, while

under hypnosis one does not sur-render their personality, free will, orpersonal beliefs. You are not underthe control of anyone, but there arethose who are capable of going intoa deep hypnotic state and forgetwhat occurred while under hypno-sis.

In medicine, hypnosis has thepotential to be an adjunct to pharma-ceuticals and reduce better pain re-lief that would be obtained throughdrugs only. It is cost effective, andaccording to the Mayo Clinic, is auseful treatment in reducing chronic

pain and reducing recovery time.Caution should be taken in any cir-cumstance where hypnosis is con-sidered.

Make sure that you are referredto a professional, and someone withexperience in the area of concern.

For those who believe hypnosisis not a viable option, at least wehave anesthetics.

(Bare To The Bone is writtenby the anatomy and physiologyclass at Sterling High. E-mail anymedical myths or questions tokaiserr@re1valleyschools.org.)

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